Remove all restrictions and transform into a bizarre girl.

The next moment, the step beneath Chen Nian's feet suddenly sank downwards.

The entire mine began to shift position. It didn't feel like stepping into thin air; it felt more like an entire step suddenly sank down, with a dull, throbbing vibration coming from the soles of your feet.

She reacted quickly, bracing herself against the wall with one hand to maintain her balance, and used the ice vines to pull Xu Xue back.

That's why no damage was caused.

After the two of them calmed down, they realized that the stone slabs they had just stepped on had disappeared.

What remained was a bottomless pit.

Chen Nian knelt on one knee at the edge of the steps, shining her flashlight downwards. The edge of the deep pit was so smooth that it didn't seem like a natural collapse; it looked more like something had bitten it off from below.

The beam of light extended downwards for about three or four meters before being swallowed by darkness. The bottom was not visible, but one could vaguely sense air currents rising from the bottom of the pit, carrying a damp, fishy smell that was even stronger than the smell of slag.

What the hell!

There's something else in this mine.

There was indeed something strange inside.

However, this strange creature in the rear is either severely injured, like the strange creature in the ice coffin she merged with before, or it is hiding to deliver a fatal blow to humanity.

Regardless of the situation, this sixth brother is strange, and Chen Nian should kill him if he has the chance.

Otherwise, the 996 work schedule would be in serious trouble.

Regardless of which type it is, let's force it out first.

She turned to face the staircase that continued downwards, took a deep breath, and then took her first step.

She wasn't afraid the staircase would collapse again; with the ice vines there, she only needed to keep them anchored to the rock face, and she wouldn't fall.

As for Xu Xue beside her, she was always bound by an ice vine to prevent her from falling.

The staircase had more and more turns, and the cracks in the walls became more and more numerous. Some cracks were wide enough to fit a hand inside, and it was so dark inside that the depth could not be seen.

The dark red light would occasionally flash through the depths of the crevice, as if something was peeking from behind the wall, and would retreat as soon as it touched the icy blue light.

When you reach the end of the third flight of stairs, an iron gate appears in front of you.

A half-meter-wide gap was left, through which a faint dark red light could be seen emanating from the space behind the door.

Chen Nian stopped in front of the door, turned around and looked at Xu Xue, who nodded.

She needs to investigate the situation here.

Chen Nian used ice vines to anchor herself behind them, so she could pull the two away at any time in case of trouble. Then she turned sideways and approached the crack in the door, making room for Xu Xueteng.

Xu Xue understood, squeezed to the side of the door, and took out a palm-sized testing device from the inside pocket of her coat.

The screen glowed with a faint green light. She aimed the probe at the space inside the door crack, held her breath for a few seconds, and then whispered the data: "The energy density is seventeen times the normal value on the Earth's surface, and the fluctuation frequency perfectly matches the low-frequency vibrations we detected before. The core is in that crystal pillar."

Chen Nian was a little puzzled as to why Xu Xue always used such technical jargon with her.

It's as if she understands it.

Just say that the crystal pillar is the key.

Oh well, maybe it's just their occupational hazard.

Chen Nian could only nod repeatedly from the side, her gaze falling on the dark red crystal pillar through the crack in the door.

The human-shaped silhouette inside remained curled up, as quiet as if it had never woken up.

But the pulsating rhythm of the surrounding minerals was clearly following some unseen beat, sometimes bright, sometimes dark, sometimes contracting, sometimes expanding, as if the entire space was being driven by the same heart.

Xu Xue continued, "Based on my deduction, I have a way to keep this crystal dormant. Chen Nian, I need your help."

"Go ahead," Chen Nian replied.

Xu Xue quickly swiped her finger across the detector screen a few times, then frowned: "Theoretically, low-temperature suppression can reduce its activity to the minimum, but that requires covering at least a ten-meter radius around it, and it needs to be continuously output."

"Chen Nian, can you use your ice-type sequence ability to freeze it?"

Hearing Xu Xue's words, Chen Nian nodded and replied, "No problem."

Chen Nian readily agreed, but had already quickly calculated the distance and energy consumption in her mind.

The distance from the door crack to the crystal pillar is about thirty meters, with pulsating clusters of minerals scattered throughout, where every step could trigger a reaction.

She needs to get close enough without disturbing the ores, and then use her ice abilities to freeze the entire crystal pillar along with the surrounding ten-meter area.

It's challenging, but not much.

Chen Nian smiled and went straight inside the iron door.

It's time to use Snowwalker.

This skill, which I hadn't practiced very well before, might suddenly become mastered in this tense and exciting environment.

Chen Nian adjusted her breathing and quickly went through the energy flow path of "Treading Snow Without Leaving a Trace" in her mind.

She glanced at the pulsating ore beneath her feet, then took her first step.

The moment the ice membrane spread out under her feet, she slid almost silently over the edge of the first cluster of minerals.

The pulsation of the ore showed no obvious disorder, as if something was lightly skimming across the ice surface, not enough to attract attention.

With the second and third steps, she moved through the dark red ore, each step landing precisely on the gliding surface of the ice membrane, leaving almost no trace of her movement.

When the ore reached a range of about ten meters, the pulsation rhythm began to become slightly disordered.

Chen Nian did not stop. At the last moment, the ice membrane under her feet spread out precisely, and she stopped about five meters away from the crystal pillar in a low center of gravity side slide.

The moment it stood still, the disturbed ore around it seemed to lose its target again, and its pulsating rhythm slowly returned to its previous regularity.

She exhaled a breath of white air and looked up at the dark red crystal pillar in front of her.

Upon closer inspection, the surface of the column is covered with extremely fine, vein-like patterns, and the human-shaped outline inside remains curled up.

Without further hesitation, Chen Nian raised her right hand, and the cold air in her palm suddenly spread out.

Frost spread from beneath her feet, quickly covering a ten-meter radius around the crystal pillar.

The moment those pulsating ores were touched by the cold air, it was as if a pause button had been pressed; the dark red light faded rapidly, and a layer of white frost covered the surface.

The patterns on the surface of the crystal column were quickly covered by ice until the entire column was encased in a layer of icy blue frost.

The whole process lasted about five seconds.

Chen Nian maintained her output, and the sequence energy in her body was being consumed steadily, but she felt relatively calm.

The Snow Without a Trace technique saved her a considerable amount of energy during the approach, allowing her to maintain a higher output power.

……